FC Life December 2017

DAVID PULVER is thrilled, excited and proud to have his book co-authored with his Urologist Dr. Mark Schoenberg and his sister, Fran Pulver, published and available for purchase.

David Pulver, a 10-year bladder cancer survivor, collaborated with his doctor, Mark Schoenberg, MD, an internationally acknowledged authority on bladder cancer, to write Bladder Cancer: A Patient-Friendly Guide to Understanding Your Diagnosis and Treatment Options (July 2017). In 2007, David was diagnosed with a serious form of bladder cancer. This was a frustrating and frightening experience for him. Although David found an abundance of information about bladder cancer on the Internet, the information was hard to synthesize, digest, and apply to his situation. “When you first learn you have bladder cancer, you feel frightened, vulnerable, and very much in need of help.” said David. “Most people go to their computer and Google the words ‘bladder cancer’ and up pops more information than they can imagine. They start clicking away, and they get even more frightened, concerned, and depressed. They wonder how they are going to make sense of all the information. They try to understand how this avalanche of information applies to their own situation.” During his search for information about bladder cancer, David found a book called The Guide to Living with Bladder Cancer (2000) by Mark Schoenberg, MD, and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins. After reading this book, David became a patient of Dr. Schoenberg. This began a unique doctor-patient partnership — to not only treat David’s bladder cancer but also to coauthor a patient-friendly book for other patients diagnosed with this disease. David and Dr. Schoenberg, along with their coauthor, Fran Pulver, a Cambridge-based medical writer and long-term cancer survivor, embarked on a multi-year project to write the book, with contributions from the country’s leading bladder cancer specialists. This is the first time a patient with bladder cancer has collaborated with his doctor to write a book that marries expert medical information with a clear writing style —that presents and organizes the information in the most patient- friendly way. “Our mission is to educate patients about the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer, so they can make informed decisions regarding their treatment and care,” said David. As a ten-year bladder cancer survivor, David has become very involved in the bladder cancer community. In 2008, he joined the Board of Directors of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN, bcan.org). BCAN is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to educating and supporting bladder cancer patients and their families, increasing public aware- ness of bladder cancer, and funding bladder cancer research. David also counsels many bladder cancer patients and helps them think through their bladder cancer situation. These experiences, in addition to his own experience as a survivor of bladder cancer, have helped him understand how the patient thinks and what they want to know. This book project has been a labor of love. It is David’s hope that patients diagnosed with bladder cancer will benefit from this book. Any profits realized from this book will be donated to bladder cancer research. More information about Bladder Cancer: A Patient-Friendly Guide to Understanding Your Diagnosis and Treatment Options is available at www.bladdercancerbook.org.

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